RELATED PRIOR ART
Tendon transfer is a surgical procedure in which a muscle tendon from the non-paralyzed muscle group is transferred to a tendon of the paralyzed muscle group to achieve some movement.
This procedure is one of few options available for the treatment of loss of motor function secondary to nerve injury those options are either operative or non operative.
The non operative options include external splinting. Examples of these splinting devices are disclosed in the following U.S. patents
______________________________________ .cndot. Patent # 5,591,121 Date 01.07.97. .cndot. Patent # 5,582,583 Date 12.10.96. .cndot. Patent # 5,542,912 Date 08.06.96. .cndot. Patent # 5,527,040 Date 06.18.96. ______________________________________
Operative options, on the other hand, are limited to tendon transfer procedures.
Many tendon transfer variations have been described. All of those variations use the same principle of transferring a tendon of a non paralyzed muscle group to the paralyzed muscle group. They vary with the choice of the tendon to be transferred and the method of attachment to the paralyzed muscle.
Because of the relative satisfaction achieved with radian nerve tendon transfers, non operative (splinting) care can not be advocated for most patients. It can be useful while awaiting nerve recovery following nerve injury or after nerve repair.
Tendon transfer allows some function of the paralyzed muscle group, but owing to decrease in the strength of the non-paralyzed muscle group as a result of the tendon transfer, the overall benefit is not significant in most of the times
The idea of this invention is to overcome the disadvantages of the above methods and provide a simple effective method to achieve the best results without the need for transferring a tendon.
The current device is best explained by example of radial nerve injury where patient lost the ability to extend the wrist but is able to flex the wrist normally.
The device will be implanted on the tendon that extend the wrist. By a spring-like action it will pull the extensor tendon or the distal bony edge of the wrist giving rise to wrist extension. Therefore, wrist extension will be simply a passive movement. Wrist flexion,on the other hand, will be simply achieved by actively moving the wrist by the non-paralyzed muscle group (The flexors).
The above function is very much similar to a door which is opened by a doorman and closed passively by a pulling spring. Opening and closing is therefor achieved by only one doorman whose job is only to open the door (Non-paralyzed muscle group). The pulling spring will close the door (The device of the new invention).
This new idea has not been used before. There are no references cited in literature or in patents.